On October 31st, Han Xianzhou, Party Secretary of CUEB, accompanied by alumni Shang Fulin, an expert advisor of the China ESG (Enterprise Strategy Group) Institute, and Director of the Economic Committee of the CPPCC, listened to Qian Longhai, Chairman of the China ESG Institute, and other key leaders’ report on work progress and future development since the establishment of the institute.

Qian Longhai, Party Secretary and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the First Capital Securities Co., Ltd., chairman of the China ESG Institute introduced the work progress. Since the foundation of the China ESG Institute on July 17th, two councils have been convened to complete the formulation of the charter system, the establishment of research centers, the appointment of personnel, and the review of subjects.

In his report, he said that ESG investment has become an international investment development trend. ESG is key to improve the high-quality development of enterprises and domestic ESG research is of great strategic significance for promoting high-quality and sustainable economic development. ESG concept, as the non-financial factors system, will bring more opportunities to enterprises if it integrates with international norms. For listed companies, the practice of ESG concept is helpful to attract international capital; For SOE (state-owned enterprises) mixed-ownership reform, ESG is an effective plan for them to solve the problem of SOE mixed-ownership reform and deepen this kind of reform. More and more research institutes and enterprises have studied the ESG theory and taken it into practice since China joined the MSCI (Morgan Stanley Capital International) Index. Through the innovation and mechanism of industry-university-research integration, CUEB China ESG Institute will facilitate the recognition of ESG concept and better contribute to the ESG practice. 

Liu Xuexin, Executive Director of ESG Institute in China and Dean of College of Business Administration in CUEB focused on the work of institute on his report. The Institute closely follows the theory frontier to carry out research and study and pays attention to the information disclosure principles and Evaluation index system that are suitable for China or for a certain industry in China. The Institute also conducts field investigation on business entities to study and publicize these cases. The Institute conducts both the undergraduate ESG module courses and graduate enrollment plan in the field of ESG. Through customized research incentive mechanism, cross-schools research and industry-university-research integration, the Institute will gather more strengths to build a high-level think tank to exert it in theory study, decision support and services for different companies.

Zhao Xiling, Secretary of Alumni Association and Education Foundation, Vice Chairman of the China ESG Institute showed that, from the preparation to establishment, the Institute has received support, help and guidance form alumni in different fields. The foundation and operation of the Institute has supported by School of Finance, School of Accounting, School of Management and Engineering and School of Law. The establishment of ESG Institute provided an opportunity for alumni who desired to contribute to the development of CUEB.

Shang Fulin fully affirmed the preliminary work and future planning of the Institute. He pointed out that ESG criteria are the trends which benefit the country and the people. In terms of ESG criteria formulation and publicity, the Institute shall, on the basis of drawing on international criteria and combining with China's practice, formulate implementation standards applicable to China that are different from other countries; it is necessary to publicize the ESG criteria in a language that can be understood by all people, and then to influence the promotion of ESG on the policy level. He hoped that on the basis of the first-mover advantage, the Institute will accelerate the deployment of key work and gradually promote solid research, so as to produce results as soon as possible and make contributions to social development.

Alumnus Huang Dongping, assistant to the Executive Dean of CUEB ESG Institute, also participated in the report.